ASUS Ivy Bridge/7-Series Chipset Q&A
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 12, 2012 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
Intel officially launched the Z77 platform earlier this week, and later this month we'll see the official launch of Ivy Bridge, Intel's 3rd generation Core processors. ASUS has agreed to cart nearly everything it makes (including a handful of unreleased products we saw at CES) over to me in NC for a hands on look on video. More importantly - we're going to be doing a Q&A with you all.
ASUS and I will both be answering your questions on camera. If you have any questions you'd like to see us answer or topics you'd like us to address, respond to the comments here or mention @anandtech with the hashtag #asusivy on Twitter along with your question/topic. We won't be able to get to all of them but we'll pick the most interesting/relevant questions and answer them on camera. The topic is obviously going to be Ivy Bridge and the 7-series platform. Simple questions are fine but what I'd really like to see are topics we can have a good discussion about.
When the video goes live, ASUS is also going to let us give away some new Z77 boards as well. We'll have more details on the giveaway closer to the Ivy Bridge launch.
Make the questions good and I look forward to answering them on camera.
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Caderyn - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Does ASUS have any plans to release a motherboard with a thunderbolt connector? Will such a board be released with the other Z77 boards? If not when is ASUS aiming to launch such a board?Etern205 - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
There was a YT video posted by NCIX and they the Asus Z77 boards does have a thunderbolt connector expect for the WS.Gary Key - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
ASUS Response -Our Maximus Gene V, P8Z77 - V, - Pro, Deluxe and Sabertooth boards have the TB header on the board along with the P8H77-V and P8H77-M Pro boards. We will have two skus in the near future with TB built onto the board. The adapter cards for the TB header equipped boards will be available once the NDA lift occurs for this version of TB.
iGo - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Will there be Thunderbolt version of current previewed line-up of Asus board, especially boards like Sabertooth Z77 or Maximum/Gene lineup? If not alternate version, will there be an accessory like a daughter card that will enable thunderbolt interface?Also, regarding the UEFI BIOS... will the interface still focus more on mouse-driven interactions or will be fully keyboard navigable like classic BIOS?
Why there isn't a Micro ATX version of Sabertooth/TUF lineup? ROG/Maximum line-up has a pretty solid mATX offerings, why not the TUF (specially Sabertooth) version?
Gary Key - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
ASUS Response -1. The Sabertooth Z77 and GENE V have TB header ports for an adapter card that will be released at a later date. As stated above other boards in our lineup have the TB header and two future skus will have TB installed on the board.
2. Our UEFI is optimized for both mouse and keyboard interaction, in fact at times I like the keyboard better but then again I am old. ;)
3. Our Sabertooth team is constantly looking at the micro-ATX segment and we have some ideas on how to best design a TUF board for that sector. However, based upon current selling trends it is difficult to justify several unique micro-ATX boards within the product lineup. Of course we are always listening to our customers, media, and resellers so if enough "buzz" starts occurring I am sure we could respond rather quickly. :)
4. That said, with the power of upcoming processors and further chipset integration it is certainly a market that we believe will start growing at rapid rate, finally. As such I would not be surprised if you see a TUF product in the smaller form factors in the not too distant future.
danjw - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Are any of your Z77 motherboards going to feature Thunderbolt?Concillian - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
The Z75 and Z77 are very similar chipsets. The additional features of the Z77 seem to only be Intel SRT and support for more than 2 video cards in Crossfire or SLI.What was the primary driving factor in the decision to choose the Z77 for most of the ASUS lineup rather than splitting the lineup between the Z75 and Z77?
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Also, neither the Z75 nor Z77 chipsets provide PCI support, yet most motherboards seem to have PCI slots on them. Can you discuss what adding PCI slots entails in terms of additional hardware, cost and power consumption?
Ytterbium - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
When can we expect to see SATA Express or other high speed interface?casteve - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
Any plans for something similar to Intel's DH61AG (or Dq77KB) that's more tuned for HTPC setups? CIR header, gets rid of the ATX PSU in favor of DC in from a laptop style AC-DC brick...hybrid2d4x4 - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
From your lineup, it looks like there are more mATX and mITX boards going forward. There's a fairly small but growing niche of HTPC builders that would like to see mITX boards come with DC-DC circuitry to use with an external power brick rather than having the standard 24-pin + 4/8-pin connectors. It makes little sense to be using full ATX PSUs with a platform that will pull only 20W most of the time and peak around 60-80W, not to mention that the PSU itself can occupy 2/3rds of the volume of such a build. Intel and Zotac have released a few boards with DC input on the back of the board, does Asus plan to release any such mITX boards in the future?